The researchers studied how different plant species in alpine wetlands in the source region of the Yangtze River interact with each other. They found that most species were not closely related and independently distributed. Positive associations were found between some pairs of species, while negative associations were also observed. By using different statistical methods, they discovered that Spearman's correlation coefficient was more sensitive than Pearson's correlation coefficient. The dominant species were grouped into 3 ecological groups based on how they utilize resources.